


Swimming Hogwarts

by multifandom_nerd



Category: Free!, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Crossover, Fluff, Multi, Not Originally My Idea, Slow Build, but not really much angst to be honest, more like teen/child drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:24:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1609967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifandom_nerd/pseuds/multifandom_nerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Hogwarts AU for our favourite swimming anime characters!<br/>Haru, Mako and Rin have already been at Hogwarts for a year when Nagisa and Gou (and Rei!) come up the next year. Hogwarts shenanigans ensue with the gang along with Seijuurou, Ms Amakata and Sasabe.<br/>Instead of swimming, it's Quidditch, and of course there's house drama, but it will have a happy ending, do not fear!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Swimming Hogwarts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1072148) by [kurooing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurooing/pseuds/kurooing). 



> Okay so this wasn't originally my idea. Basically, a while ago i was Ao3 and i had recently just finished watching Free! (so excited for season 2!) and I just thought to myself: 'I wonder if there are any Hogwarts AUs for Free!'? and lo and behold, i stumbled upon this idea: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1072148  
> It was just a bunch of headcanons but i loved all of the ideas so like 5 days ago i found the author on tumblr and asked if i could turn her ideas into an actual story and she said yes!  
> Her tumblr is here if you wanna check it out: http://kurooing.tumblr.com/  
> And here's mine too: http://multifandom-nerd.tumblr.com/  
> Anyway, i hope you enjoy it. The first chapter's a bit short but as with nearly everything i write, the first chapter tends to be the shortest as it's kind of just introducing stuff. I've had this written for about 4 days and i went through and edited it myself so any mistakes are mine and... yeah, enjoy!

Nagisa looked up in wonder as he walked into the Great Hall with Gou and the rest of his soon-to-be classmates; he’d never seen anything like it. The ceiling was a perfect image of the night sky. All the first years were muttering and whispering to each other, nervous and scared about what house they would be put in.

“I hope I get Gryffindor.” Gou confided as they walked past the Gryffindor table. She could see her brother, Rin, sitting at the far end with a grey-haired boy. “It’s my brother’s house.”

“I know, Gou-”

“Kou!” she protested.

“-I saw everyone this summer and they told me all about it.” The previous year had been so boring for Nagisa without Haru, Mako and Rin there with him. As soon as they stepped off the Hogwarts Express on the first day of the summer holiday he was there, hugging them and exclaiming loudly about how much he’d missed them all.

They reached the front then and a silence fell over all the students: first years and all other years alike. Nagisa knew he wouldn’t be called for a little while so he looked around a bit as the sorting hat sat on its stool and began singing. On the Slytherin table he could see Haru sitting by himself, reading and just generally oblivious to what was going on around him. Makoto was sitting with a bunch of Hufflepuffs and caught Nagisa’s eye, smiling and giving him a small wave when he’d made sure none of the teachers were watching. Nagisa couldn’t help but smile back and had to prevent himself from yelling ‘Mako-chan!’ He turned back towards the front just as the hat stopped singing.

A few spaces to his right was a boy who was very tall for his age. Nagisa recognised him from the train ride there; they’d shared a compartment as Nagisa and Gou couldn’t find anywhere else to go and there was only him and one other person in there already. Nagisa couldn’t help but notice how the boy’s hair was a very unnatural shade of blue – was his hair that colour before? –  and made a mental note to himself to ask the boy about it later. People were being called out now and Nagisa fidgeted while he waited for his name to be called. He hadn’t out rightly said it, but he was nervous of what house he would get into. Although, he did have someone he knew in three of the houses and he highly doubted he would get put in Ravenclaw anyway, so he didn’t really have anything to worry about.

A few more minutes passed and the clapping for the previous person died down as his name was called. Sweat pooled lightly in his hands and he felt the gaze of everyone in the room as he sat on the stool. He could feel his heart speeding up, could feel the blood pumping through his veins but then suddenly it was over. Before the hat had even touched his head, it yelled ‘SLYTHERIN!’ and that was that. Nagisa broke into a shit-eating grin and skipped over to the Slytherin table as people threw him confused looks. No one expected someone like Nagisa, a bubbly, over-energetic kid, to be in Slytherin.

Haru cried out in surprise as Nagisa sat down practically in his lap and wrapped him in a surprisingly strong hug “Haru-chan!”

“Hello, Nagisa-kun. I’m very glad you’re in my house.” Haru had missed Nagisa as well. He might not be very sociable but Nagisa was one of his best friends, how could he not miss him? (Although he was just as shocked as everyone else at which house he’d been placed in: Haru would have guessed at Hufflepuff). But still, he was glad to have his friend there.

The rest of the names were called out: Gou got Gryffindor liked she wanted and the blue-haired boy (whose name was Rei) was Ravenclaw. When that was announced in a similar fashion to what happened to Nagisa, Nagisa proceeded to yell ‘Rei-venclaw! Get it? Because you’re Rei-chan!’ to which everyone laughed and from there Nagisa knew everything was going to be fine.

*

Gou couldn’t have been happier when she got placed in Gryffindor. She immediately bounded up from the chair and ran to sit with her brother to celebrate but he just ignored her in favour of his ‘cool older friends’. It didn’t matter though, because Gou knew her brother was proud, even if he didn’t say it. So instead she got up and decided to try and make some new friends by sitting with some of the other first year Gryffindors.

It turned out Gou was right, as later that evening when they were in the common room, Rin walked up to her and scooped her into the best kind of big-brother hug she could have asked for. It was strong and reassuring and - most importantly – conveyed the sense of pride her brother felt.

“I’m so proud of you,” He mumbled into the top of her head and she giggled as his breath tickled her ears.

“Thanks,” she replied, the tips of her ears turning red. Rin let go and coughed, slipping back out of big brother mode. “See you later, Rin.”Rin coughed once more.

“Bye, Gou.” With that, he turned around and walked briskly up the stairs until he was safely inside the dormitory walls.

“Aw, Matsouka-senpai, you _do_ care about your sister!” came a voice from the opposite side of the room.

“Gah! Aiichirou, we talked about this! No more spying, it’s creepy!”

Nitori looked down in shame, “Sorry Matsouka-senpai. It won’t happen again.” Rin sighed exasperatedly and flopped gracefully onto his bed.

“ Sorry for snapping at you, Aiichirou, it’s just different having Gou and Nagisa here.” But to tell the truth, he was excited to see what the year would bring. He knew that now they were all reunited it was going to be amazing and he couldn’t wait.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of Rei and Nagisa's friendship :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking over a week to update but i just had this huge English project i had to get in by yesterday but that's done now so i'll have more time to write. Also, today's the last day of school before half-term so i'll have a lot of time to write next week.  
> As usual, thank you to kurooing for the amazing inspiration. If you wanna find her on tumblr:  
> http://kurooing.tumblr.com/
> 
> And, as usual, this is un beta'd so any mistakes are my own, but i always proof-read so there shouldn't be any.  
> Enjoy!

The first few weeks of classes were by far Nagisa’s favourite thing ever.

The first two weeks were mostly just introducing the first years to all the classes and what life at Hogwarts would be like, but from the third week onwards was when the actual classes started. One of the first classes Nagisa had was Divination with Ms Amakata. He’d heard stories about her around the castle and from Haru, Makoto and Rin, each tale more wild and eccentric than the last.

As the Slytherin first years sat down on the chairs and beanbags around the room, Nagisa took in the sight of an obscene amount of flowers dotted around everywhere. From what he could see, it looked like there was more in her office as well. He could only wonder where they all came from. Another thing he noticed was how Ms Amakata liked to quote muggle texts, however, judging by the reactions of the few muggleborns in the room, she never got them quite right. One story Nagisa had heard around the halls multiple times was how once, a muggleborn student pointed out that she hadn’t quoted something (the text changed every time he heard it) correctly and she gave him the most horrific, fear-inducing stare anyone had ever seen, that the kid transferred out of the class and rumour has it that he still has nightmares. Some people also say that Ms Amakata follows him around the hallways, but no one can actually prove that.

“I wonder where all these flowers came from?” Nagisa asked the student nearest him. He still didn’t really know anyone very well but he’d made a few friends.

“No one knows,” they whispered back, “but some people say that they’re all gifts from Professor Sasabe, the herbology teacher. Apparently he’s in love with her but no one knows why.”

It was needless to say that Divination wasn’t Nagisa’s favourite subject.

Two weeks later they started mixing classes with the other houses: mainly Slytherin had classes with Gryffindor but they also had a few with Ravenclaw, one of which was Defence Against the Dark Arts. From the moment he stepped into the room, Nagisa could tell he was going to like that class. What made it even better was Rei sitting at the front of the class, nose in his book and a finger held steadily on the bridge of his glasses. He bounded over to the boy happily, a smile plastered on his face.

“Good morning, Rei-chan!” the seat next to him was empty so Nagisa took the liberty of flinging himself onto it and leaning slightly too far into Rei’s personal space.

“Um, hello… Nagisa?” Rei breathed, startled by the sudden intrusion.

“Hi! I thought that since we both have girly names we’re obviously meant to be friends, so I’m here to strike up a friendship. Also I recognised you from the train and the sorting ceremony, so, hi!” Rei’s hair was still blue and Nagisa still couldn’t shake the feeling that it hadn’t been that colour on the train.

“Thank you, but-”

“Has your hair always been blue?” Nagsa butted in, cutting of Rei mid-sentence, “because I’m sure it wasn’t on the train but then it was at the sorting ceremony and it is now so I was wondering if it’s always ben blue and I just wasn’t paying attention or if you can change your hair colour which would be so amazing I would love to be able to change my hair colour, not that I don’t love being blonde it’s just that-”

Rei cut him off with a sigh and a hand held in his face; “No, my hair isn’t always blue although it’s my preferred state.”

“State?” Nagisa didn’t understand why Rei had worded it so strangely.

“I’m a Metamorphmagus.”

"Woah that's so cool! Can you do other stuff too? Ooh! Can you turn into a penguin!? You know those little rockhopper penguins because they're my favourite!"

"You don't give up do you?" Rei noted exasperatedly.

"Nope!" Nagisa grinned back at him. "So, can you or can you not?"

Rei didn't get a chance to respond as the teacher was at the front of the room and had started calling the register.

After the teacher had gone over the basics and given them a demonstration of 'Expelliarmus', she told them to pair off.

"Let's be partners!" Nagisa exclaimed. Rei couldn't see any reason not to so he begrudgingly accepted the offer and they began practicing.

Rei was much better than Nagisa, getting it right on his second try. Nagisa, however, just couldn't get it right. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong." He pouted.

“Well, first of all you’re pronouncing it wrong: you’re putting too much stress on the ‘ar’. Secondly, your wand movement is off, but only slightly. Try to make your wrist a bit looser.” After Rei said that, Nagisa got it right straight away.

*

“Rei-chan!” a body slammed into Rei’s back, nearly sending him sprawling on his way back to his library table.

“Gah!” he steadied himself and turned around in the person’s arms to see Nagisa smiling up at him. Of course it was Nagisa (who else would it be?). “H-hello Nagisa.” He managed to extricate himself from Nagisa’s arms and made his way over to the table in the corner of the library where all his stuff was, Nagisa practically stepping on the backs of his heels to keep up. The librarian hissed a ‘Shhhhh’ at the two of them as they walked past her.

“Please, please, _please_ help me with my potions homework Rei-chan. I don’t understand it at all but you were really helpful last week in DADA so I thought it might be easier if you explained it to me.” Rei winced at the loud scraping noises their chairs made, knowing the librarian wouldn’t like it.

“Maybe once I’ve finished my herbology, Nagisa-kun. Until then, try and figure it out for yourself or write a list of the things you don’t understand so I’ll know what to help you with.” Rei forced everything from his mind other than his herbology homework: _‘The lifespan of a Mandrake’_. He managed to stick with it for 20 minutes without getting distracted until he looked up and saw that Nagisa had disappeared and was wandering around the potions section. He took the chance to take a look at the list Nagisa had written down and his heart sunk: this was going to take a while. That said, Nagisa had taken his advice and had started out with the stuff he knew and it was mostly correct from what Rei could read upside down. He sighed in defeat. ‘ _I’m nearly finished and it’s not due until next week, I guess I can always finish my herbology in the common room’._ Nagisa was probably the only real friend he’d made and if his friend urgently needed his help then he would give him it.

“Nagisa!” he called the boy over quietly, so as not to alert the librarian.

“Yes Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked, voice tinged with hope. Rei sighed. He dragged his chair around so it was next to Nagisa’s and dragged all of Nagisa’s papers in front of himself.

“So, this is mostly right except for this part here…” Rei pointed out the mistakes and helped Nagisa fix them before moving onto the list.

Before they realised, they’d made it through half the list and were being shooed from the library by the librarian (who still scared Rei slightly).

“Thank you so much Rei-chan!” as soon as they were outside Nagisa threw his arms around the taller boy and squeezed him surprisingly hard for someone so small.

“If you want we can come back and finish it tomorrow?” Rei suggested. He blushed slightly when Nagisa continued to hug him for more than normal social status dictated, but he assumed it was just something Nagisa did.

“Yes please.” when Nagisa finally let go, he flashed Rei a blinding grin and turned to sprint down the hallway. “BYE REI-CHAN!”  Rei smiled slightly at the back of his head. Suddenly he realised that he no longer found the boy’s action mildly irritating, but instead endearing.

‘ _I made a friend’_ Rei thought to himself happily, arms swinging from his sides as he walked back to the Ravenclaw common room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Transfiguration has always been a strong point for Nagisa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so i've decided to try and update a bit more frequently but i'm having the best time writing this! I think it's really helped improve my writing skills.  
> As always, i got the idea from Kurooing, go check her out, and this isn't beta'd so any mistakes are mine. Feel free to point any mistakes out if you see them and i'll change it but all of the spelling should be correct because i always proofread things just to make sure.
> 
> Enjoy! x  
> Also, i can't believe i'm almost at 300 hits?! What even...

“Don’t call me Gou!” a small fist pummelled against Nagisa’s arm as they waited for their transfiguration teacher to show up.

“But that’s your name!” Nagisa defended, batting Gou’s hand away.

“It’s Kou!” an elbow dug into his side. Nagisa winced: Gou had sharp elbows.

“Everybody! Everybody quiet down. Today we will be focussing on transforming pieces of clothing into other pieces of clothing using the spell we learned last lesson.” Professor McGonagall was an elderly woman, with light brown hair slightly greying in some parts, and a thick Scottish accent which some people found hard to understand at first. It just took a bit of getting used to.

Personally, she was Nagisa’s favourite teacher: she was straightforward and to the point, genuinely cared about the welfare of her students, and explained things in a clear and concise way. Transfiguration also happened to be Nagisa’s favourite and best subject so having a great teacher on top of that was an added bonus.

“Pair off and take it in turns. I will walk around and make sure you’re all doing it correctly.”

“Ladies first Gou,” Nagisa teased. He took a piece of fabric that was being handed around and placed it on the table in front of her.

“Don’t. Call. Me. GOU!” she screeched, swishing her wand around angrily. Since the lesson started, Nagisa and Gou had attracted the attentions of a few people near them, but now most of the class was staring at them. Gou glared at Nagisa and then moved her glare to the piece of fabric as if it had somehow affronted her. Almost as if it was second-nature, she muttered the incantation and transfigured it into a sock.

“Very well done Miss Matsouka, but next time please do try not to be so loud. I fear we shall all be deaf by the end of the year if you continue to insist on shouting at your partner,” Professor McGonagall sighed in exasperation.

“Sorry Professor,” Gou apologised, “but he started it,” she muttered under her breath so the teacher didn’t hear. Nagisa, however, did.

“I did not start it!”

“Did too!”

“All I did was call you by your name!” now Nagisa was the one getting frustrated.

“My name is KOU!”

Nagisa huffed indignantly and flicked his wand downwards in a sharp motion, Gou’s tie all of a sudden changing from a harmless tie into a long, thin snake with red and yellow scales. It slithered down her arm and onto the floor, much to the terror of the all the students, minus Nagisa. He just reached down and scooped it into his hands. He let it slither up his arms until it was spread across his shoulders, laying like an open scarf would. It didn’t make any move to attack anyone and Nagisa knew it was harmless: it might have looked dangerous with its alarming bright red, yellow and black scales, but really it was just a harmless grass snake. Nagisa was still having trouble with colour transference and since Gou’s tie was black, red and yellow, so was the snake.

“What did you do to my tie?!”

“Mr Hazuki, would you mind telling just _how_ you did that?” McGonagall ignored Gou’s distress and focussed solely on the first year in front of her that shouldn’t be anywhere near able to do things of that level.

“Um… well I’ve been practicing, a lot, and I’ve always been good at transfiguration anyway so it wasn’t too hard to learn,” Nagisa confessed. He hoped he wouldn’t get in trouble, but McGonagall had a stern frown on her face which could only mean bad things. “Sorry.” He looked down sheepishly, patiently waiting for his punishment.

“There’s no need to apologise Mr Hazuki. Come with me.” McGonagall quickly turned the snake back into a tie, much to Gou and everyone else’s obvious relief. Nagisa on the other hand was just confused. The professor walked purposefully from the room, knowing full well that Nagisa would follow her almost immediately.

“See ya, Gou.” Nagisa winked.

*

News of what had happened spread like fiendfire around the school and soon everyone was talking about it; how had a _first year_ been able to do that? And such a tiny first year at that.

“Is it really true?” Aiichirou asked Gou that night in the common room. Gou groaned angrily at the mention of it. “Did Nagisa really turn your tie into a snake?”

“Yes…” she admitted. She didn’t want to say, but she was kind of impressed with Nagisa. Nagisa and her had always had a friendly kind of rivalry going on, ever since they were younger, but it had slowly dissipated over the years. Gou could tell that it was going to make a come-back, determined to be better than Nagisa and not let anything like that happen again.

“What if it’s a Slytherin thing? Like how some Slytherins can talk to snakes? What if Nagisa can do it so easily because it’s in his blood?” it wasn’t a common trait for witches and wizards to be able to do things to that extent, but it wasn’t completely impossible either. It was most common in Slytherins, what with the whole Parseltongue thing and their house symbol being a snake but you did sometimes find it in other houses as well. “I wonder where Professor McGonagall took him. What if they have to test him to make sure he’s not going to turn out evil?”

“Nagisa? Evil? Are you insane Aiichirou? He doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body. I’m sure she just took him to talk to the headmaster.” Even if she and Nagisa had somewhat of a rivalry, she knew just because he was Slytherin It didn’t mean he was inherently evil. In fact, he was one of the sweetest, kindest, most care-free people she had ever met in her 11 years.

As it turned out, that was exactly what happened. Nagisa spent an hour showing McGonagall and the Headmaster what he could do in relation to transfiguration and it was quickly agreed that he could take extra classes with the second – maybe even third – years if that was what he wanted. Nagisa was more than happy to oblige.

“I get to work with older students!” he gushed to Rei one evening when they were studying in the library. It would’ve been more comfortable for them to do homework in one of their common rooms but the fact that they weren’t in the same house kind of ruled that out. To be honest, Nagisa was nervous about the whole thing, but the nervousness was countered by his excitement. Still, he couldn’t help having his doubts, “What if I’m not good enough?”

“I’m sure you’ll do great, Nagisa-kun: don’t worry so much,” Rei reassured him. Nagisa was glad he had him as a friend; he was never judgemental and always supported Nagisa and helped him whenever he was stuck. Not to mention that he was also funny when he wanted to be and also extremely intelligent. Lots of people might have been put off by his analytical way of thinking but it was one of the things Nagisa loved most about his best friend.

“Thank you Rei-chan! You’re such a nice friend.” With that, Nagisa relaxed and got back to his charms homework, a small smile quirking the corners of his mouth.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas at Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so so so sorry about not updating for almost two weeks. The only excuse i have is that this chapter is quite a bit longer than the other chapters so it took longer to write but the truth is i kinda go stuck a bit in this chapter. Christmas wasn't originally in kurooing's headcanon but i just though it would be a nice addition to the story and it would also serve as a good transition seeing as there's gonna be a time lapse in the next chapter.  
> As always, thank you to kurooing for letting me take her headcanons and turn them into an actual fic. This is unbeta'd so any mistakes are my own, however i did read through it beforehand so there shouldn't be. If there are let me know and i'll happily fix them!  
> Enjoy! x

Chapter 4

Before any of them knew what had happened, it was Christmas and most of the students were leaving for the holidays.

“Are you going home for the holidays, Haru-chan?” Nagisa asked one morning over a bowl of Cheeri Owls. He’d never had Cheeri Owls before he came to Hogwarts and he didn’t think he’d ever tasted anything better.

“I can’t, my parents are abroad again like last year.” Haru sighed. He stirred his tea slowly, almost as if he was just doing so that his hands would have something to do.

“Well then, I’ll stay with you!” Nagisa was perhaps the most kind-hearted Slytherin anyone had ever met, “I wouldn’t want you to be alone on Christmas.”

“But what about your family?” Haru didn’t want to cause Nagisa any inconvenience: he would much rather be on his own than make one of his friends miss time with their family.

“They’ll understand: besides, we can be each other’s family this year. Ooh! We should get everyone to stay this Christmas and then it would be like when we were little and we could all have Christmas dinner together and give each other presents! Rei-chan will have to stay too, seeing as none of you really know him yet.” Nagisa could see it in his mind’s eyes: him and all his best friends sitting in front of a fire, exchanging gifts and having a great time with their first Christmas all back together.

“I’m going to go talk to Mako-chan, Rin-chan, Rei-chan and Gou-chan! Maybe Aichirou-chan could stay as well?! Bye Haru-chan!” Nagisa didn’t give Haru any room to protest as he leapt from his seat and jogged across to the Hufflepuff table, drawing a lot of attention and scaring many of the younger Hufflepuffs.

*

Mako, Rin, Gou, Rei, Aiichirou and Nagisa all met up later that day to plan a surprise for Haru. They were staying behind by choice but Haru didn’t have a say in whether he wanted to stay or not; they needed to make that Christmas was as amazing as possible.

“We should go into Hogsmeade,” Gou suggested. That way they could get presents for Haru and each other.

“None of the teachers will agree to go with us. Anyway, we would need signatures from our parents to give us permission,” Mako pointed out, ever the voice of reason. He was a Hufflepuff after all.

“Then we’ll sneak out.” Nagisa grinned mischievously.

“How will that even work Nagisa-chan? It’s not like we can just walk out of the front gates!”

“We won’t have to…” Nagisa replied ominously, “because I found this in the Gryffindor common room.” he pulled a blank piece of paper out from the sleeve of his robe, flourishing it dramatically.

“When were you in the Gryffindor common room?!” Rin exclaimed. He didn’t think it was even possible for people in other houses to get into each other’s common rooms.

“I was helping Gou with her transfiguration homework. But that’s not important: what’s important is that we have this!” he waved the paper around again, making sure to purposefully tap Rin on the nose with it.

“All I see is a piece of folded blank parchment,” Gou admitted. What was she missing? Rei suddenly gasped.

“Nagisa, is that what I think it is?” Rei remembered reading about a map that was invisible until you said… something… what was it? I solemnly swear…

“If you’re thinking it’s the Marauder’s Map, then yes it’s exactly what you think it is Rei-chan.” Nagisa wrinkled his nose happily, red eyes sparkling.

“How do you even know about that?” Rei didn’t mean it to sound so rude or accusing, it just kind of came out like that.

“You’re not the only one here who reads,” Nagisa replied, mock offended but knowing Rei didn’t mean to sound so shocked. As if to prove it he touched his wand to the parchment and whispered ‘ _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good’_. Immediately the map sprung to life, the words ‘ _Messrs_ MOONY, WORMTAIL, PADFOOT & PRONGS _are proud to present The_ MARAUDER’S MAP’ swirling across the front.

Until then, Aiichirou had been completely quiet, but then he spoke up, “My dad told me about that! It’s a complete map of Hogwarts and shows you where everyone is around the school.” Rin stared at Aiichirou, shocked and slightly awed.

“It can also show us all the secret passages leading out of here. Whoever made this were geniuses, it even adapts to any changes to the structure of the school. If we want to go to Hogsmeade then we need to take this passage behind the statue of the one eyed witch. From what I can tell, it comes out in the cellar of Honeydukes. The other option we have is the mirror on the fourth floor which also leads into Hogsmeade, but I’m not entirely sure where it comes out so I would say that our best bet is the one eyed witch statue.” It was clear that Nagisa had spent a lot of time analysing this map and to be honest none of them were surprised. “We’re all pretty small, except for Mako-chan and Rin-chan, but you’re mostly tall so it shouldn’t be an issue. I spent a bit of time walking around but I couldn’t see any obvious opening until I realised that it’s a _secret_ passageway for a reason. After that it was just a matter of finding a spell to reveal hidden things and eventually I found the charm ‘ _dissendium’_ which revealed an opening in the statue’s hump.” When Nagisa eventually stopped talking and looked up from the map, he was met with three stunned faces and one face so full of pride it almost knocked him over.

“You figured all that out by yourself?” Rei asked, voice full of a mixture of awe and pride. Nagisa was far from stupid, but none of them could quite comprehend that he had managed all of that by himself.

“Yep!” he grinned happily, but even so a slight red tinged the tips of his rounded ears.

“That’s so amazing Nagisa-kun.” Rei grinned back at him.

“Heh, thank you Rei-chan.”

Mako still wasn’t sure about it: it was against the school rules to leave the grounds without a teacher and what if they got caught? Even so, he wanted to do something nice for his best friend. “So, when are we going to go into Hogsmeade?” he asked reluctantly.

“How about next Saturday?” Aiichirou suggested, “We finish on Friday and it also gives us a bit of time to plan things better.”

“Saturday it is.” Rin agreed. It had taken a while but Aiichirou was growing on him. They all agreed on a time to meet and then they went their separate ways: Rin, Gou and Aiichirou to Gryffindor tower, Rei to the Ravenclaw tower, Mako to the Hufflepuff common room, and Nagisa to the dungeons.

*

The corridor was cold as Rin, Gou and Aiichirou snuck towards the one eyed witch statue. Everyone had left to see their families the day before, with the exception of them, Haru, and a few other students.

“Shh!” Rin hissed as Gou’s shoes squeaked on the floor.

“Oh shh yourself Rin,” she hissed back, “It’s not like there’s actually any teachers around at the moment anyway.” They rounded the corner as quietly as possible and tiptoed past the Defence Again the Dark Arts classroom. When they reached the statue Nagisa and Rei were waiting there, the former wearing a wooly hat, mittens and what looked like four layers, and the latter wearing only a t-shirt, black trousers, and a blue hoodie that was as bright as his hair.

“Where’s Mako-chan?” Nagisa asked upon noticing them, cutting off his and Rei’s conversation.

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon. He’s probably just wrapping up warm,” Rei reassured. A minute later Makoto shuffled silently around the corner.

“Right then, let’s go before we get caught.” Nagisa quickly complied to Mako’s wish, enthusiastically whispering the charm and tapping the statue, an ecstatic grin splitting his face when it slid open to reveal a small passage. He quickly ushered everyone in and climbed in last, the passage sliding closed behind him.

“How will we get back out?” Aiichirou squeaked.

“You just press on it, see.” Nagisa gently pressed the opening and it slid back open. He smiled calmly at Aiichirou and then they were off.

The passage was slightly cramped with all six of them in it, only just big enough for Rin and Makoto to only have to slightly duck. It smelt like dust and old age, as if no one had been down there for years, which Nagisa supposed they hadn’t. The stone floor echoed slightly as they walked, wands lit, towards Hogsmeade. The tunnel was clearly made with smaller people in mind and Nagisa couldn’t help but wonder just how old it really was: the air was slightly thinner and mustier than in the castle and the floor and walls were cracked slightly in places. All things aside, Nagisa actually quite liked it down there.

It took them a good 45 minutes to finally get to Hogsmeade and when they eventually got there around 9:00am it turned out they were indeed in the basement of Honeyduke’s.

They clambered out one by one and waited until Nagisa was finally out before gently closing the hatch. He was immediately met with the distinct smell of sugar and something else sweet that he couldn’t quite place.

Makoto led them up the stairs, going slowly and wincing whenever a floorboard creaked or one of them made a sound. Eventually they reached the top of the stairs, unlocked the cellar door, and then they were in the main shop. It wasn’t as busy as they’d hoped it would be but it was far from empty. Little children dragged their parents around to different shelves, marvelling at the wacky and fun sweets littering every available surface.

“Quickly,” Mako whispered, walking briskly into the middle of the shop, shoulders sagging when he got there without any trouble. Soon they were all huddled in the middle of the shop. “Let’s go have a look around at some of the other shops and then we can circle back here last.”

Hogsmeade was very like Diagon Alley in Nagisa’s opinion, only smaller and with more pubs. What was supposed to only take them a few hours ended up taking the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon. They stopped and went into every shop they passed, looking for the perfect gifts for each other and Haru, and often just walking around without buying anything. Eventually they all found different presents for Haru before circling back to Honeydukes. Now all they had to do was get back into the basement. Seeing as it was later in the afternoon, the number of people in the shop was much lower than it had been earlier, meaning it would be harder for them to slip away unseen.

“We’ll have to go one at a time.” Gou sighed. She sneaked off first, walking nonchalantly around the edge of the shelves until she was sure no one was looking and then slipping through the basement door. Aiichirou was on his way over when the only other people in the shop paid and left, leaving them as the only people there.

“Hello dears, how can I help you?” Aiichirou froze where he was, spinning on his heel and smiling at the elderly woman.

“Uh…” he threw a pleading glance over at his friends, begging them to do something.

“We were in here earlier,” Rin cut in, “and I lost my… glasses. They must have fallen out of my pocket and we’ve been to every other shop we went in but we haven’t been able to find them.” Rin squinted then, trying to make the lie more believable by acting as though he couldn’t see.

“Oh well I’m sure we can have a look around can’t we? You know what, I’ll go check in the lost and found, see if anyone’s handed them in. Why don’t you all take a look around in case they are still in here? I’ll be right back.” The old woman trundled off though a door behind the counter, presumably to where the lost and found was, but that wasn’t important right then. The five boys took their chance and quickly ran to the basement as quietly as possible so as not to alert the shop owner.

“What happened?!” Gou hissed when she saw the boys filing down the staircase.

“We’ll tell you later, but right now we need to get out of here,” Rin whispered back, barrelling past her and wrenching the trap door open, “Everyone: in.”

Not one for waiting around, Rei jumped straight into the tunnel and began walking, followed straight away by Nagisa. Rin was the last one to enter. Just as he closed the trap door the sound of shuffling feet sounded from above. Aiichirou opened his mouth to thank Rin for helping him out but was promptly cut off by being gently shoved forward.

When they got back, it was to the wrath of Professor McGonagall.

“And just _where_ have you six been? You know very well you aren’t allowed to leave school grounds.” They could practically see the smoke fuming from her ears and nostrils. “Mr Tachibana, I expected much more from you.” Nagisa couldn’t help but feel guilty about getting them all in trouble. “I ought to expel the lot of you.”

“Please Professor, we only wanted to do something nice for our friend Haru,” Makoto tried to reason.

“Seeing as it’s Christmas, I’ll let you all off with a warning. But try anything else like this, and I won’t hesitate to expel all of you, even you Mr Tachibana. As for your friend Haruka; I’m very aware of his situation.” With that, Professor McGonagall sent them back to their dormitories

*

“Haru-chan! Wake up Haru-chan, it’s Christmas.” Nagisa hurled himself onto Haru’s bed and shook Haru until he woke up and nudged Nagisa off the bed.

“Nagisa, what time is it?” Haru answered his own question by looking at the clock on the wall. It was only 6:45. “Why are you up so early?”

“Because it’s Christmas and so that we can all spend as much of the day together as possible!”

"Fine, I'll be up in a minute, Nagisa," Haru mumbled sleepily.

"Okay! I'm going to go wake the others."

"Nagisa, none of them are in Slytherin: how are you going to get into their dormitories?" Haru sighed.

"I have my ways." Nagisa backwards ominously and sprinted out the door. Sometimes Nagisa worried Haru.

To Haru’s surprise, twenty minutes later, Nagisa strolled into the common room with Rei, Mako, Rin, Gou, and Aiichirou trailing behind him. They were all carrying large piles of gifts in their arms.

"Morning Haru," Makoto beamed. Haru sent him back a smile of his own.

"Good morning."

"I was thinking we should open our presents now before we go to have breakfast,” Nagisa suggested. They all sat down around the fireplace and passed presents around until they all had a present from each other. “Who wants to go first?”

“I think Rei should go first, it would be a nice way to welcome him into the group.” Makoto smiled at Rei in a reassuring way, trying to convey that he shouldn’t be worried or nervous.

“U-uh alright then.” To his surprise, Rei’s presents were all obviously bought with him in mind. Huh, maybe they knew more about him then he’d thought. He opened Nagisa’s last. He carefully tore the bright yellow wrapping paper off the gift and gaped in shock at the present sitting in his hand. “Nagisa, where did you even find this?” he gasped.

“I saw it in Tomes and Scrolls in Hogsmeade at the weekend and I knew you’d love it.” Everyone leaned over to look at the book sitting in Rei’s lap, entitled ‘Metamorphmagi: a guide’.

“Thank you so much Nagisa, it means a lot to me.” Rei and Nagisa shared a meaningful glance, just for a second but it was enough. Everyone else shared knowing smiles, Rin and Gou smirking at each other.

Everyone else opened their presents until Haru was the only one left who hadn’t.

“Alright Haru, it’s your turn.” The others all turned to stare at Haru expectantly as he picked up the first present. It was small and was covered in a pale blue paper that Haru recognised as the paper Mako had used for all his gifts. Haru could tell from the lightness of it that it was fragile so he took extra care whilst unwrapping it, making sure not to drop it. When he finished opening it, he was met with a beautiful glass dolphin.

“It’s beautiful…” Rei whispered in awe.

“Mako-chan thank you so much.” Haru smiled to himself and gently nudged Mako with his shoulder to convey his thanks. His other presents consisted of:

  *          A book on Quidditch from Rei
  *          New flying goggles from Aiichirou
  *          A mini wooden broom which flew around the room from Nagisa
  *          An assortment of sugar quills, quick-quote quills, and rainbow ink from Gou
  *          A small replica of a snitch from Rin



All in all, Haru could safely say it was his favourite Christmas he’d had in a long while.


End file.
